Monitoring the Coefficient of Variation Using the Side Sensitive Group Runs Chart

Many quality characteristics have means and standard deviations that are not independent. Instead, the standard deviations of these quality characteristics are proportional to their corresponding means. Thus, monitoring the coefficient of variation (CV), for these quality characteristics, using a control chart has gained remarkable attention in recent years. This paper presents a side sensitive group runs chart for the CV (called the SSGR CV chart). The implementation and optimization procedures of the proposed chart are presented. Two optimization procedures are developed, i.e. (i) by minimizing the average run length (ARL) when the shift size is deterministic and (ii) by minimizing the expected average run length (EARL) when the shift size is unknown. An application of the SSGR CV chart using a real dataset is also demonstrated. Additionally, the SSGR CV chart is compared with the Shewhart CV, runs rules CV, synthetic CV and exponentially weighted moving average CV charts by means of ARLs and standard deviation of the run lengths. The performance comparison is also conducted using EARLs when the shift size is unknown. In general, the SSGR CV chart surpasses the other charts under comparison, for most upward and downward CV shifts. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Correction on link relative based approach to CUSUM chart

Link relative-based approach was used in an article (see reference 1) to enhance the performance of the cumulative sum (CUSUM) control chart. This technique involves the use of firstly, the link relative variable to convert the process observations in a relative to the mean form and secondly, optimal constants to define a new variable which is used as the plotting statistic of the link relative CUSUM chart. In this article, it is proven through simulation study that the optimal constants with fixed values, as reported in the aforementioned article, give different results. Instead, if the regression technique is used, then the same results will be obtained.     

Side-effect localization for lazy, purely functional languages via aspects

Many side-effecting programming activities, such as profiling and tracing, can be formulated as crosscutting concerns and be framed as side-effecting aspects in the aspect-oriented programming paradigm. The benefit gained from this separation of concerns is particularly evident in purely functional programming, as adding such aspects using techniques such as monadification will generally lead to crosscutting changes. This paper presents an approach to provide side-effecting aspects for lazy purely functional languages in a user transparent fashion. We propose a simple yet direct state manipulation construct for developing side-effecting aspects and devise a systematic monadification scheme to translate the woven code to monadic style purely functional code. Furthermore, we present a static and dynamic semantics of the aspect programs and reason about the correctness of our monadification scheme with respect to them.     

A fast immersed interface method for solving Stokes flows on irregular domains

We present a fast immersed interface method for solving the steady Stokes flows involving the rigid boundaries. The immersed rigid boundary is represented by a set of Lagrangian control points. In order to enforce the prescribed velocity at the rigid boundary, singular forces at the rigid boundary are applied on the fluid. The forces are related to the jumps in pressure and the jumps in the derivatives of both pressure and velocity, and are approximated using the cubic splines. The strength of singular forces is determined by solving a small system of equations via the GMRES method. The Stokes equations are discretized using finite difference method with the incorporation of jump conditions on a staggered Cartesian grid and solved by the conjugate gradient Uzawa-type method. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy and ability of the proposed method to simulate Stokes flows on irregular domains.     

Synthesis of bio-functionalized copolymer particles bearing carboxyl groups via a microfluidic device

Monodisperse copolymer particles carrying surface carboxyl groups in the range of 50–200 μm were prepared by in situ UV polymerization of ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) with acrylic acid (AA) via a microfluidic flow-focusing device (MFFD). The design of the coaxial orifices in the MFFD enables the confinement of the comonomer liquid thread to the central axis of the microchannel, which can avoid the wetting problem of comonomer liquid with the microchannel and can successfully produce monodisperse copolymer microspheres with coefficient of variance below 5%. The effects of concentration of EGDMA and AA on droplet diameters and the distribution of carboxyl group on particle surfaces were examined. It has been found that, increasing the concentration of AA would decrease particle sizes, but increase the distribution of carboxyl group on particle surfaces. Bioconjugation of the carboxylated copolymer particles with the anti-rabbit IgG–Cy3 conjugates was successfully demonstrated. By increasing the concentration of AA accompanied with decreasing the particle sizes, high efficiency of bioconjugation on carboxylated copolymer particles was achieved. The rapid continuous synthesis of carboxylated copolymer particles via a microfluidic device provides a reliable control of particle sizes and composition for massive production in biotechnological applications.     

Two Modified Semicircle Control Charts for Detecting Process Improvement

A semicircle control chart can be used in detecting both increases and decreases in the mean and/or variance. In this paper, we propose two modified semicircle charts for detecting a reduction in the process variance, a.k.a. process improvement. Each of these modified semicircle charts, namely, SC1 and SC2 has two limits, defined by the inner and outer semicircles. A process improvement is detected by the SC1 scheme if a point is plotted inside the smallest semicircle, or if two successive points are plotted between the inner and outer semicircles and by the SC2 scheme if a point plots inside the smallest semicircle or if two of three successive points plot between the inner and outer semicircles. It will be shown that the two modified semicircle charts have superior average run length (ARL) performances to the basic semicircle chart in the detection of process improvement. The ARL study is conducted by means of a simulation.     

Program Adaptation via Output-Constraint Specialization

In component-based software development, gluing of two software components is usually achieved by defining an interface specification, and creating wrappers on components to support the interface. We believe that interface specification provides useful information for specializing components. An interface may define constraints on a component's inputs, as well as on its outputs. In this paper, we propose a new approach to program specialization with respect to output constraints. We provide the form in which an efficient specialized program should be after such specialization, and consider a variant of partial evaluation to achieve it. In the process, we translate an output constraint into a characterization function for a component's input, and define a specializer that uses this characterization to guide the specialization process. We believe this work will broaden the scope of program specialization, and provide a framework for building more generic and versatile program adaptation techniques.     

A rough set approach to design concept analysis in a design chain

The inherent dynamic relationships among design tasks performed concurrently at different organizations characterize the complexities of a design chain where designers with diverse expertise need to collaborate across organizational boundaries. To ensure timely completion of inter-related design tasks, metrics to facilitate the early evaluation of design concepts are crucial. The ability to evaluate and select suitable design concepts at an early stage will ensure better solutions and greater savings in time and effort further downstream. This paper proposes a new approach based on the rough set theory to design concept analysis. The approach aims at early detection of design inadequacy. A so-called information system is constructed using the information gleaned from design concepts and design capabilities, and analyzed using the rough set theory to derive a set of design rules for design concept analysis. The approach embodies a technique for handling attributes with unavailable information, which is a frequent occurrence in design. This paper presents details of the proposed approach, the novel technique, and a case study.